CHIBA, Japan -- What was the coolest thing at Ceatec, the Japanese gadget conference taking place outside of Tokyo?

That phone on the left. It contains an exterior LCD, called Memory LCD, that uses 10 miliwatts of power in standby. You can show pictures on it, get news briefs, use it as a watch. (I headed the committee to pick best of show technologies.) Think of it as having the full screen experience of an iPhone, but you also still get buttons because it is a flip phone.

While it is only in black and white, it doesn't use much power. Once an image is illustrated, power consumption is throttled way back. Sharp makes phones, but is moving toward being a component maker, so you could see this pop up in other phones and even some coming in the U.S. It uses a bit more power than things like electronic ink, but the images change fluidly and dynamically.

Other energy technologies that were interesting: Hitachi's energy efficient TV technologies and Panasonic's fuel cells for homes and its Eco-Navi washing machine.